October 9th, 2003 issue #0240

Cut-throughs. Neighborhoods hate 'em. But apparently retailers take a more benevolent view of drivers who use their shopping center streets as shortcuts. The new Albemarle Place has designed a cut-through road to lure customers in by offering them another way to stay off U.S. 29.
Albemarle Place Boulevard will link U.S. 29 at the Main Post Office to Hydraulic Road at Cedar Hill Road, according to planner/designer Frank Cox of the Cox Company. And because of the new road's high-capacity access, he isn't worried that it might become clogged with commuters.

PHOTOS BY JEN FARIELLO
Anthony Rush, EmployeeCar Lovers Carwash in the Kmart Plaza
What do you think about the new road? I really hadn't heard about it, but it will take a lot of traffic from here.
Will you miss the Kmart cut-through? That's a pain. It's really bad because you can't get out of here. Only three cars get out before the light turns red.
Which shopping center has the easiest access? Barracks Road.

Everybody does it– even cops and elected officials. The Kmart parking lot is a notorious shortcut through private property that lots of locals take to avoid a long line of cars at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and U.S. 29.

One of the advantages of building a road on your own property and having large donors pay for it is that it streamlines the approval process. Unlike the Hillsdale Connector, which has been on the books for years and whose steering committee is still wrangling over which of several routes it will take, UVA's North Grounds Connector has been approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation and is good to go.